Shaquille O'Neal has never been one to temper his opinions, no matter who he is talking to or what he is talking about.
The NBA Hall of Fame center and fixture of the NBA on TNT crew appeared in a Bleacher Report podcast earlier this week to discuss Trae Young and ways the Hawks' point guard can elevate his game under new head coach Quin Snyder.
"Trae is not a problem, and he is a problem," Shaq said about the Hawks' star point guard. "When you take those long shots and then go in? It looks good. When you take those long shots, and they don't go in? That's something you really can't adjust for, especially when a guy has the quadruple green light. That's one thing about Trae, he’s gonna shoot when he wants to shoot."
Young has made a habit of shooting those long-distance shots. As seen by a zone chart produced by Kirk Goldsberry after the 2022 season, he led the NBA in scoring from two of the three deepest ranges.
That metric is repeating itself this season as Trae leads the NBA in the average three-point shot distance (28.0 feet) and it comes more than four feet behind the three-point line. His willingness to pull the trigger from anywhere on the floor makes him one of the more exciting (and frustrating) players in the NBA.
"But the only thing I don't like about Trae is a lot of his shots are ill-advised," Shaq continued. "But you can't say anything to him 'cause he hits those shots."
Diesel went on to discuss ways that Young could continue to develop and establish himself as one of the undisputed elite players in the NBA.
"He’s close [to being on the level of elite guards in the NBA], but he's not yet," Shaq explained. "He's a great player but he's not in the same class as a Donovan or a Steph. He's almost there. He will be there, but again you still have to make the players around you better. When you're the leader of the team and the ball is in your hand a lot. It's hard with a guy like him because a lot of time he takes over."
Trae has been known as a prolific offensive weapon, but he has also been known as a ball-dominant player. The 24-year-old guard averages 25.6 points and 9.3 assists over the course of his five-year career, but with a usage rate that only drops below 32 percent in his rookie season.
One hope of the new head coach is that he can utilize an offense that can effectively use Trae off the ball, and Shaq finished with an interesting piece of advice for Snyder on how he should coach Trae.
"I think he should have a conversation with Trae and he should allow Trae to coach himself," Shaq said, to the surprise of his two hosts. "Say, 'hey man, shoot, you're one of the best shooters in the game, but don't shoot us out the game. Don't shoot us out of the playoffs. It all depends on you'."